Strike-plate for locks



(No Model.)

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO S.

NlTE STATES ROSALIND n. nowna, or SAN rRANoIsoo, CALIFORNIA.

STRIKE-PLATE FOR LOCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 572,859, dated December 8, 1896.

Application filed April 15, 1896- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RosALIND H. BowER,

- a citizen. of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Adjustable Strike-Plates for Locks; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to an improved strikeplate for mortise-locks.

It consists of the parts and the constructions and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure 1 is a View showing my strikeplate and its attachment to the casing. Figs. 2 and 3 show the plates separated.

A represents the casing of a door.

B is the exterior portion of my strike-plate, which is let into the edge of the casing opposite the point where the lock is fixed in the door and has the usual projecting strike 0, against which the beveled latch contacts when the door is closed.

The elongated slot which extends from near the top to near the bottom of the plate B has its sides made in the form of tongues 21, adapted to receive the correspondingly-shaped grooves made in the edges of an independent inner plate D, or, if preferred, the tongues may be made on the inner plate and grooves upon the outer one, the object being in any case to retain the inner plate in position within the outer one, having its surfaces approximately flush with those of the outer plate. This inner plate has the openings E and F made in it near the top and bottom, respectively, to receive the latch and the bolt of the lock.

Along one edge of the inner plate is made a channel or slot G, and in the outer plate opposite to it is made a countersunk semicircular depression G. The edge of the slot G is also beveled to correspond with the countersunk opening, and this allows a screw to be introduced into this opening and turned down, so that its head, fitting into the countersunk opening on one side and against the beveled face upon the other side, will firmly lock the two parts together. When the screw has been loosened, the inner plate is slidable within Serial No. 587,580. (No model.)

the outer one and may beset at any desired point.

The operation will then be as follows WV hen the lock is fitted to the door, a mortise of sufficient length is made opposite the openings into which the catch and bolt of the lock enter and of sufficient depth to receive them. The strike-plate is then fitted into the edge of the door and secured by screws at the top and bottom, and the inner slidable plate is adjusted so that the slots through it coincide, respectively, with the catch and the bolt. The two plates are then looked together by the screw at H, and the device remains in this condition as long as no change occurs in the relative position of the door and casing. The door or casing may either of them settle or get out of position from various well-known causes, so that the bolt and catch do not coincide with the openings in the strike-plate. When this occurs, it is only necessary to loosen the screw with a screw-driver and move the inner plate up or down, as the case maybe,sufficientlyto make the openings again coincide with the bolt and catch, after which the screwis tightened and the two are locked together. By this construction it is possible for any one in the house to keep all the locks of the doors throughout the house in good working condition without the necessity of removing the strike-plate, resetting it, or cutting new mortises in the door-casing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A strike-plate for mortise-locks consist- 1 ing of a plate to be secured to the door-casing, having a slot formed longitudinally in it wholly inside of its margins and having an outwardly-projecting strike from one edge, said plate having the vertical side walls of its slot formed with tongues, a second plate fitted to slide within the slotted portion of the firstnamed plate andhaving its vertical edges ing tongues upon its vertical parallel sides, a any point of their adjustment with relation [0 second plate of less length than the channel to each other.

in the outer one having grooves adapted to fit In witness whereof I have hereunto set my the tongues in the outer plate and openings hand.

to receive the latch and bolt of the look, a

beveled channel formed longitudinally in one ROSALIND BOWER' side of the plate, a countersunk semicircular lVitnesses:

opening in the adjacent edge of the outer S. H. NOURSE,

plate and a screw adapted to lock the two at JESSIE C. BRODIE. 

